Thomas Lin suggests his land be used for indoor pool

Thomas Lin, owner of property behind Safeway, proposed that the city build an indoor pool on his land during the June 14 city council meeting, which he attended virtually. Lin previously sold some of his property to Weidner Apartment Homes, the company which manages the apartments behind Safeway  and to Link Transit to build a new transit center at Safeway. He donated the road east of the Hampton Inn to the city to provide a route for Link Transit buses.

Lin lives in the Seattle area and first bought property in Leavenworth in 2013. His family had visited Leavenworth and suggested he visit. He fell in love with Leavenworth and decided to buy property.  Lin grew up in Taiwan and moved to the United States at 19.  He attended Boston University for undergrad and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for graduate school and played water polo in college, which is his personal connection with swimming.

Lin moved to Seattle to take care of his parents, who moved to the US when he graduated from college. He took care of them until his father passed away in 2017. He said that Leavenworth is a great city and small enough that you can make a positive impact, which is the mission of his alma matter, MIT.

“I already have the property that we can do the indoor swimming pool,” Lin said at the city council meeting. “Just keep that in mind. I have a property to build  a swimming pool. So [the city] can decide what [they] want to contribute. If not, we will do it ourselves.”

In a follow-up interview, Lin clarified his intentions for the property.  He wants the property to be used at a low cost so that an indoor swimming pool can be built. However, he does not want the city to run the pool because he thinks that private enterprise would run the pool better. He says he is interested in an indoor pool because its what he wants to do, and he wants to help the kids.

Christie Voos, City of Leavenworth Communication Analyst said that the city has received a grant secured through Kim Schrier which includes dollars bookmarked for pool improvements. However, the city has not received the money earned from the grant yet, it is still processing. If the pool was run privately, Voos does not think the grant money could be used for the indoor pool, but she is not positive.

$348,000 from the grant is allocated for pool upgrades while the grant is $941,340 in total with the rest allocated for other uses like affordable housing.  Voos said that the city does not have a timeline for when an indoor pool could open or an idea of how much it would cost to build an indoor pool or cover the current outdoor pool so it could be used for longer periods of the year.

Voos said that the city will not have an idea of the timeline and cost of an indoor pool project until a feasibility study is conducted about creating an indoor facility in Leavenworth.  At this time, Voos said that the city does not have a preference on building an indoor pool facility or covering the current pool because they will not know that the cost of operations would be until a feasibility study is conducted.

Lin said that he thinks creating a new building with and indoor pool would take several million dollars to construct. The property, Lot 2, is located behind the hotel and beside the transit center. He said that he is not willing to let the land be used for an indoor pool if the pool was publicly run by the city because he wants the pool to be financially self-sustaining and he does not think that the city can build an indoor pool in a reasonable amount of time.

While Lin says that he has had a positive experience working with the city and says that they have all been very helpful, he does not think that that government would run an indoor pool as well as a private enterprise and wants to make sure he can oversee the project.

“So, I am going to step up to plate and I want to make it a private enterprise. Private is for the benefit of the residents. I can make it break even. I can make it 12 months a year,” he said.

Lin said he has an experienced colleague who could possibly help him with the creation and overseeing of the pool.  While nothing is set in stone and there are not current construction contracts to build an indoor pool, Lin is interested in building one on his property. He said he wants to get the pool done right and says that we do not have enough time to wait another 7 or 8 years for and indoor pool to be built.

“Kids are drowning at the river. Whose responsibility is that? It should be all our responsibility,” Lin said.